Liberty Wren

Name: Liberty "Bert" Wren

Gender: Female

Age: 17

Grade: Senior

School: George Hunter High School

Hobbies and Interests: Figure skating, partying, socializing, animation, cartoons, anime, architecture, student council.

Appearance: Liberty Wren stands at 4'11" and weighs about 93 pounds. She has a lithe, skinny build. Her hair is red, and is usually styled in a bun. Her cheeks and chin are rounded, and her nose is small and pointed. The color of Liberty's eyes is hazel. She is Caucasian, and is of French-Canadian descent. Her face is dotted with freckles around her cheekbones and nose. Her voice is high pitched and easily excitable, and she often speaks in exaggerated and energetic tones.

Her clothes tend to be casual, preferring to wear t-shirts and skirts in three out of four seasons. She wears knee high socks and sneakers. In the summer months, she prefers to wear floral print sundresses and sandals. On the day of the abduction, Liberty was wearing white sneakers, black knee high socks, a cherry red skirt, and a pastel pink wool button down shirt.

Biography: Liberty Wren was born in the year 2000. Her father, Felix, works in Chattanooga as a personal banker, while her mother Rosa works as an actuary, formerly full-time but taking a part-time position after her daughter was born. The couple also live with Rosa's mother, Danielle, a retired primary care doctor from whom Liberty received the nickname Bert shortly after being born. The nickname stuck, as it was easier to pronounce for the growing child. While her father protested against the nickname, fearing how the French pronunciation would be lost to those English speakers that only read the name and did not hear it, it was already too late to get her to drop the name.

Danielle spent most of her time caring for Bert, letting her parents continue on with their work as much as they could. Often, this meant taking Bert to the playground, where Danielle let Bert have free reign. Bert was initially shy of other children, but as she realized that they were mostly harmless she found that her interactions with them went smoothly. It was here that she discovered her innate desire to be in the company of others, a drive that would come to define her interactions with others for the rest of her life.

After a bout of illness left Danielle in poor health, the family decided to send Bert to daycare as a way of taking some pressure off of the aging grandmother. Her experience with other children was positive from the outset. Even though others started to tease her over her nickname, once they realized that it wasn't going to phase her they tended to drop the subject, though their pronunciation of the name with a hard 'T' sound stuck with her. In addition to daycare, Rosa decided to enroll Bert in an ice skating class. As a child, Rosa had always wanted to ice-skate, but her family hadn't been able to afford it. After Danielle recounted that while taking Bert on a walk the pair passed by an ice skating rink, Rosa was inspired to try and give her daughter something that she didn't have in her own youth. On ice, Bert was transfixed by the way that she could move, as well as how enjoyable it was to be able to move well at high speeds. Initially struggling to find her balance, her determination to skate like the people she saw at the outdoor ice rink helped her motivation in the long run.

Her success on the ice did not translate into success once she entered elementary school, however. Bert found it difficult to focus on her schoolwork, finding side conversations with her peers to be far more interesting than whatever the teacher had laid out for her to do. Despite this, her ability to focus on work that was strictly individual was not hampered, and once she was separated from others her teachers found that she usually was able to understand concepts and lessons fairly quickly. To Bert's parents, this meant finding Bert a tutor, a job that her grandmother was more than happy to take on. Danielle's tutoring helped Bert stay on track with elementary school until she was good enough at it to be able to do well on her own. However, Bert continued to let Danielle tutor her so that she could spend more time with her grandmother.

As Bert grew more comfortable on the ice, her parents decided to enroll her in figure skating classes at the same ice rink. Bert's dedication to the ice proved effective in learning the fundamentals of figure skating, as did the support of her peers in the class. One year, over vacation, her parents took her to see a figure skating competition in a nearby state. Mesmerized by the graceful movements with which the athletes moved across the ice, she decided to devote more time to skating than she had previously. Her coaches noticed a marked difference in the deliberateness with which she carried herself, and she slowly started to make her name known on a competitive level. At the present, she is skilled enough to compete on a local level and to receive average results in qualifiers for larger scale competitions.

To counterbalance her physically active pursuits, her parents decided to try taking her to various museums to see if she had any interest in academic or artistic pursuits. The contents of the museums tended to bore her, but the exteriors of the buildings caught her attention more than anything else. She found herself attracted to the gracefulness that the buildings were constructed with and grew interested in their construction. Happy that she was able to find something she was interested in, her parents tried their best to support her by buying photo books of famous buildings from around the world, books that Bert soon found herself fawning over.

In her socializing with others, Bert realized that one way to keep current with her friends was by watching television. Most often, the conversation was about the latest cartoons, so these were what Bert spent the most time watching. Even as others went on to discuss other things, she felt herself still drawn to cartoons and animation as a whole. The dedication needed to draw something that looked realistic and fluid appealed to her from a creative standpoint, but as she grew older she found that was most often fond of cartoons that portrayed personal relationships and interesting stories. As time went on, her passion evolved to include foreign animation, most notably that of Japan. Eventually, her affinity for anime eclipsed that of western animation, and she became a devoted fan of the medium. She keeps up with the latest shows online and talks to other members of the community online; though she has no personal motivation to try animation herself, she is fascinated by the creative process of animators and what it takes to make something worth watching. Shows like Cowboy Bebop, Shirobako, Death Parade, Yuri!!! on Ice, Nichijou, and Fate/Stay Night are among her favorites, as are movies such as 500 Centimeters Per Second, Akira and Spirited Away. When she can find time, she attends the school anime club.

Shortly after Bert started to attend middle school, Danielle suffered a heart attack and had to be hospitalized. Bert spent as much time at Danielle's bedside as she could, going so far as to skip figure skating practice in order to get visiting time. Thankfully, Danielle recovered, but the declining state of her physical health had become apparent to both her and the rest of the Wren family. After a bad fall a couple of months later put her in the hospital again, she agreed to go to an assisted living facility, where she currently resides. Bert makes time to see her as often as she can help it.

As the social dynamics of middle school began to take hold, Bert found herself able to become a part of most cliques and groups without much difficulty. Her friends admired her for her warmth and sense of humor, as well as her sense of empathy and willingness to listen to, and remember, their worries. Being liked by others filled her with pride, and she soon sought ways to do good by her fellow classmates. On a whim, she decided to join the student government organization, and found that it fit nicely in her schedule. Bert found that she enjoyed the experience so much that one of the first things she did once she entered high school was find out when student council met so that she could attend. This helped her find her social footing quickly, and the only scheduling conflicts she found with figure skating were minor at their worst. Her favorite tasks are those that involve fundraising and those that involve interacting with other clubs at the school.

Bert is often invited to parties and other social gatherings, at which she has had the opportunity to try drugs. While not an addict or junkie, Bert has no qualms about substances, and sometimes views them as integral to getting a social encounter on its feet. When with a large group of her peers, Bert is more inclined to follow the leader than to take charge, even if that means going along with something that might wind up being harmful or dangerous for her health. Her parents are, for the most part, oblivious as to the antics she gets herself into with her friends, as Bert does well enough in school for them to not be particularly worried about her future. Of the two, Bert is closer to her mother by virtue of her more constant presence around the house.

To classmates, Bert is a carefree and enthusiastic member of the student body. Teachers admire her sociability, though her propensity to derail a class discussion still infrequently lands her in hot water. In her individual interests, she is constantly focused on bettering herself and becoming as knowledgeable as she can, as knowing as much as possible about a given subject gives her a reassuring sense of ownership and control over the given subject. Another motivation for her desire to learn is so that in the event that her knowledge in the subject ever proves to be useful for others, she can offer a well-informed solution to their problems and address any possible misunderstanding. The divide between her easy-going exterior and focused interior has only deepened with time, and those who have had a chance to know both sides of her are often startled by how quickly her mood can change when entering a social situation.

In terms of academics, Bert's high school career has had its ups and downs. The subject she shows the most mastery over is math, as memorizing formulas and rules is one of her strong suits. The sciences interest her on a conceptual level, but she is often distracted during laboratory and experimental work. Though she enjoys most of her subjects, she has trouble staying focused in history and English, as these are the subjects where she is most often able to socialize and work with others during class-time. When she has the time, Bert studies to make up for her lost time in class, a habit that helps pick her grades up to the point where she can maintain a 3.40 grand point average.

After she graduates high school, Bert plans on going to college to pursue architecture as a career. Figure skating remains important to her, but she is currently considering quitting after the end of high school so that she can focus more on college and her social life, though she is not altogether opposed to continuing if it means that she can be awarded scholarship money for it. Bert hopes to go to college out of state, hoping that she'll be able to meet new people along the way.

Advantages: Bert is naturally outgoing, and has an easy time making allies. Her time spent figure skating has made her considerably flexible, and her movements are graceful and quiet, good for any situation that requires her to travel unseen. When alone, Bert's focus is above average, and she is able to make decisions fairly well.

Disadvantages: In a large group, Bert is inclined to go along with the majority decision regardless of what the outcome is. While she is dexterous, she is not particularly strong, and her small stature may prove a detriment in any physical altercations she may find herself in.

Designated Number: Female student No. 026

---

Designated Weapon: Battery-powered drill

Conclusion: Your name's fucking stupid. - Josie Knight

'The above biography is as written by CrossBowPig. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: CrossBowPig

Kills: None

Killed By: Quinn Abert

Collected Weapons: Battery-powered drill (assigned weapon)

Allies: Camilla Bell, Katelynne Kirkpatrick

Enemies: 

Mid-game Evaluation: 

Post-Game Evaluation: 

Memorable Quotes:

Threads
Below are a list of threads containing Liberty, in chronological order:

The Past: V7 Pregame: The Trip: V7:
 * Make A New Cult Every Day
 * Generation Loss
 * Disc Rot
 * Just Dance (#SwiftBall)
 * The Mascara Snake (#SwiftBall)
 * Dragon's Lair (#SwiftBall)
 * Ross Miller's Snapchat and Instagram Inbox
 * Dream of Horses
 * More like FART EXHIBITION
 * My Body Is Ready
 * Sink or Swim, Better Dive Right In
 * Kids Run Through the City

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Liberty Wren. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''
 * No thoughts, head empty. — Methodical Slacker
 * Ooh, Bert. So I'll be completely upfront here: MethodicalSlacker has three characters who each have a serious claim to a slot on my absolute favorites-of-the-version list, but Bert is not one of them. That's not to say she's bad by any means, but I think the unifying factor behind those three characters, what truly propelled them to greatness, was that they dealt knowingly in theme and arc and imagery on this long-term level, while Bert very consciously does not. Bert is more of a chaotic force, one who plunges headlong into whatever weird idea comes to mind at any given moment. This means she's always interesting—she heralds the arrival of the first column post, for instance—but also that at times she's more about the what than the who behind it. Her highlights are moments like The Mascara Snake, when she can be carried by her voice and pace and be in her element.

I would say that, on the whole, Pregame was more Bert's element than the island. Her first thread is typical of early V7 in that a ton of characters pile in and then a few make stuff happen while everyone else struggles to stand out. Bert's voice and beats are good in their own right, but she's not concussing anyone, being concussed, or taking the most active role in preventing further head trauma, so she gets shoved to the back burner. She fares better as the thread goes on, as the one to take Benedict's head wound seriously and go after him, and gets a good moment with Camila and Camilla after his death, but is then pulled into the orbit of Nikki's escape group.

This thread is one I have extremely mixed feelings on, because its highs are incredibly high but its lows are really low and it serves ultimately as a momentum-killer for a number of characters who pass through it. It builds and builds and seems to be going somewhere and then it just stops and everyone mysterious is scattered to the winds and the plot is sort of swept under the rug, and for Bert that lands her in what becomes her death thread, with an awkward separation beat. Her interaction with Katelynne there has some really good points (one of the best uses of an image in-game I've seen among them), but I'm not super duper hot on the Camilla confusion that dominates much of it because it feels weird for there to be this general unawareness that the class is jam-packed with Cams and it feels extra weird for Bert to at no point even mentally reference that she was actually hanging out with two of them right before her last thread.

The scene, however, continues on as Katelynne negligently leaves the door unlocked and V7's favorite slasher comes to play. This sees Bert's narrative and stylistic flexibility used to full effect, as it adopts Quinn's beats and plays her game even on a post structure level. It sells Bert's killer really hard, in a good way, and sets up the entire tense cat-and-mouse that follows her demise. And, again due to Bert's general openness to wacky ideas, her fate as a temporary door ornament feels fitting, somehow.

I think, at the end of the day, what I'm trying to drive at is that Bert is a character who is primarily fun, and she is quite fun indeed. That leaves her a bit lower on my rankings than MS' other kids, who scratch my deep artistic sensibilities a little more thoroughly, but also they had way more time to develop and I think dropping Bert first was a wise call. She's worth a look, and her death in particular is a really nice moment of genre exploration in an SOTF context. - MurderWeasel